- Nazis gather by a garden
- Large assembly including Hitler Youth [21]
- An assembly is flanked by a flag of a shielded bird with oral accoutrements.
- A Nazi uniform indicating rank
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Some local support of Nazism in Chile preceded Adolf Hitler's 1933 appointment as Chancellor of Germany, including a Chilean National Socialist party active from 1932 to 1938. Nazi Germany also pursued the Nazification of German Chileans.
Nazi spy networks operated in the country between 1937 and 1944. The Chilean government's Department 50 investigated Nazi activity throughout Latin America from 1939 until 1947, with the help of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. Numerous photographs and other documents were declassified in 2017 and subsequently suggested by History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler to possibly corroborate the dictator's escape from Berlin.
Other movements related to Nazism continued to operate in Chile until the latter half of the 20th century. This included Colonia Dignidad, a site of human rights abuses during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship. Pinochet was supported by former Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Walter Rauff, who spent his later life in the country.
Chilean physician Nicolás Palacios, a proponent of the scientific racism ideology, considered the "Chilean race" to be a mix of two bellicose master races: the Visigoths of Spain and the Mapuche (Araucanians) of Chile. [2] Palacios traces the origins of the Spanish component of the "Chilean race" to the coast of the Baltic Sea, specifically to Götaland in Sweden, [2] one of the supposed homelands of the Goths. Palacios claimed that both the blonde-haired and the bronze-coloured Chilean Mestizos share a "moral physonomy" and a masculine psychology. [3] He opposed immigration from Southern Europe and argued that Mestizos who are derived from Southern Europeans lack "cerebral control" and are a social load. [4]
There was a German Chilean youth organization with strong Nazi influence prior to 1933 (when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party gained control of Germany). Germany pursued a policy of Nazification of the German Chilean community, [5] as it did elsewhere. [6] The German Chilean communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world, and they mostly supported Nazi Germany (at least passively), with a widespread presence in the country's German Lutheran Church. [5] The Chilean German community, however, did not act as an official extension of the German state. [7] A local chapter of the Nazi Party was started in Chile. [5]
The National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNSCH) was founded in 1932. After it was dissolved in 1938, some of its notable former members migrated into the Agrarian Labor Party, obtaining high charges. [8] Other former MNSCH members formed new parties of that kind until 1952. [8]
Between 1937 and 1944, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile. After the Navy discovered their presence via radio, in 1941 the Chilean General Directorate of Investigations established the International Confidential Section (or "Department 50"), which investigated local pro-Nazi activity until 1947, [9] [10] such as that of Bernardo Timmermann. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Intelligence Service assisted Chilean officials in their efforts. Related records, including numerous photographs, were subsequently maintained by the National Archives of Chile [11] (and declassified in 2017). [12] Department 50 broke up two spy rings and prevented plots to attack mines in northern Chile and the Panama Canal. [13] Its final probe detected Nazis in the coastal cities of Lima (Peru), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo (Uruguay), and São Paulo (Brazil). [14]
In 2018, History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler , which alleges the dictator's secret escape from Berlin, visited the archives and asserted the existence of a network of over 750 outposts resembling Chile's secretive Colonia Dignidad [15] (which housed some Nazis). [16] Additionally, a concentration camp was claimed to have been run by former Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Walter Rauff [15] [a] who supported Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. [18] The show's hosts implied the activity to evidence the existence of a Fourth Reich. [15]
Senior SS officer Richard Glücks, believed to have died in 1945, has also been speculated to have escaped Germany, allegedly to Chile. [19] [20]
A new Nazi Party was formed in 1964 by school teacher Franz Pfeiffer; [8] it organised a "Miss Nazi" beauty contest and formed a Chilean branch of the Ku Klux Klan [8] before disbanding in 1970. Pfeiffer attempted to reboot the party in 1983 amid a wave of protests against Pinochet's military dictatorship. [8]
Nazism had also detractors in Chile. An example of this is the telegram sent by Salvador Allende and other members of the Congress of Chile to Hitler after the Kristallnacht (1938) in which they denounced the persecution of Jews. [28]
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Citations
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